Book Review, F Godwin, Islands

To some extent this is a follow on from my work on the Landscape course where Fay Godwin was my chosen photographer. It took me some time to track down her books, initially getting the Land trilogy and then a few others, purchased second hand, mainly through Abe. I had been intending to read Islands for a while but my recent trip to the Isle of Skye prompted me to take this along and start into it.



The book contains photographs by Fay Godwin accompanied by text authored by John Fowles. At a quick glance I had expected the images to feature Scottish islands, perhaps the Hebrides but in fact the photographs are of the Isles of Scilly. It is perhaps interesting to note that the style of the photos is strongly anchored in the characteristic style of Godwin but the subject matter is harder to place and could as easily be a number of varying places in the UK.

Though the photos stay with the Isles of Scilly the text uses this as a kicking off point to look more generally at the concept of islands, drawing upon a variety of historic and fictional text references as it goes. The text discusses our relationships with the seas and with island living but the photos, though littered with signs of human inhabitation, never actually show any people directly.

Overall I enjoyed this book but not as much as "The Edge of Land" which is one of my favourites.